ROCK HARBOR FISHING: The first cast of the season

The new bulkhead is done at Rock Harbor in Orleans, and many of the boats are in and getting ready to go fishing.

The harbor will become a popular place as people will be able to come down to see how well our anglers did fishing the waters of Cape Cod Bay.

This season, I plan to not only inform you on how we, in the charter fleet, are doing and I will also include tips on how to set your tackle up for the best results when using your own vessel.

One of the best methods we use this time of year is the umbrella rig.

The six-arm rig works the best. The "bugs" or teasers that are black and red are the most popular but white and red or white and black works well at times too. We fish them on 200-feet of wire with the reel full of 130 lb. test dacron or some other backing.

A five-foot leader of 60 lb. test mono is what is generally used but some of us use as much as 10-feet. The speed you troll is around 3.5 to 4 knots. This tackle should be used in water from 18-feet or deeper. In shallow water go to a single swimming plug.

The stripers are the first fish that migrate into the Bay.

The bluefish will show up later, mid-to-late June. The bass will move around for a while and then they will seem to disappear for a bit. That’s when a new group of fish show up; at least that is what has been happening for the past few seasons.

Before I get into where you should start looking for the stripers I’d like to mention something. I see boats leaving Rock Harbor and head right to where they see the charter boats grouped up.

Yes, that could mean that there are fish in that area. What you should do is check some other spots out on your own first. The fish don’t just hang out in one spot, find your own fish and it will not be crowded and you’ll enjoy your trip that much more.

This has been a fairly cold spring.

A lot of east to northeast wind which keeps the water in the Bay cold. The fish may be here but not as active as we’d like.

What is a good sign is there is lots of bait for these stripers. Mainly mackerel, which is all over the south edge of Billingsgate Shoals and much of the other areas in the Bay.

The Hindsight and myself have been out and found stripers off the edge of the Brewster Flats. Mainly undersize stripers with a few small keepers mixed in. One other item, the Hindsight found a large number of tautog by the Old Target Ship some were almost 10-pounds.

The areas to check out in the Rock Harbor area of the Bay would be the south and north edge of Billingsgate Shoals, the area around the three-can, and just off the Brewster Flats.

If you can see the fish on the surface use swimming plugs. If not, troll the umbrella rig on your 200-foot wire set up.

Last Tuesday Capt. John Mead was out and found a number of stripers, both keepers and undersize fish.

He stated that he easily filled the limit of one fish per person over 28-inches with many to spare which were thrown back.

The week before the storm, Fran Keough and Bob Jennings went out looking to see what we could find. We did get a number of small fish off the Brewster Flats up by Paine’s Creek and few more by towards the harbor, the fish are here.

If you would like to get in on some of these early season stripers give me a call at 508-240-8267. We’ll do our best to get you out.